Public land defensive schemes

[jakebird]

Figured we could have some fun in the off season and  play around with a discussion on some unconventional tactics you have/ do employ when hunting pressured public land. Defensive schemes, if you will. To give you a little upper hand on the competition. I'll drop a few here, but there's a few secrets I still keep, too.

1. Defensive parking. I'll park at one gate or parking area, and then walk a considerable distance in an opposite direction to where I intend to hunt. A lot of (lazy( hunters associate parked vehicles with gobbling turkeys. Someone is hunting there so they probably heard a bird in there recently. This helps protect my hunting spots a little bit.

2. Kick the leaves back in under the tree when you leave. If you had a good setup, cover it up so other guys don't find it later. Simple thing to do ,but it helps.

3. Carry a pine branch with you while walking and scouting. Use it to carefully erase tracks, droppings, feathers, strut marks, and even dusting bowls at times. Helps hide that fresh sign from others, and also serves as a useful tool for you to determine how frequently turkeys are using an area.

4. Another defensive parking tip. If you're hunting with a buddy, drive separately and park a little further part than usual. Discourages a late comer from coming in on you if there is less room to park and appears to be more people in there.

5. Control the information. Keep your best intel close, but don't be afraid to send a couple guys on a wild goose chase after the bird you "heard" hammering down the road yesterday or on the opposite ridge. I knew an old timer that told me he would stand on a ridge and run a shaker gobble call the day before the opener  to draw hunting pressure away from his spots.

6. I hunt a spot where there is a long spur road off of the main access road. You can drive down in a good ways and park at a dead end. But in so doing, it typically spooks the birds and they clam up as they roost close to that dead end. Cutting trees is forbidden, but I have a few times drug an already fallen log across the road forcing people to either move it (most are too lazy) , keep going to another spot, or park and walk the whole way back in. Either outcome is positive. Last year, an actual large tree had fallen and forest service hadn't had a chance to saw it up yet. The hunting back there was best it's been in years.

[Ranger]

SSSSSssshhhhhhhhhhh

[Happy]

Being in good physical shape and incredibly good-looking has served me well so far. I figure I will just run what I brung.

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[GobbleNut]

Being in good physical shape and incredibly good-looking has served me well so far. I figure I will just run what I brung.

Well, as one who is on the other extreme of those two considerations, I can confidently state that I ain't runnin' with what I brung so much anymore.

On the other hand, I also don't have many defenses on how to deal with the masses that are increasingly infiltrating our public lands out here in the west.  My public-land theories pretty much revolve around avoiding weekends and also attempting to get to spots that are difficult to get to and/or might be overlooked by most others.  Out in this part of the world, the weekdays and the last part of the season are generally still competition-free to a large extent.

I still rely to a great degree on the courtesy of other hunters in terms of them moving on when I am parked somewhere, but admittedly, that is becoming less and less reliable as the years go by.  Turkey hunting etiquette is more and more becoming a thing of the past. 

[Kylongspur88]

I probably hunt 50/50 public and private. On public I NEVER tell anyone about what I've seen, heard, or where a bird is. You don't have to be rude, but at the same time others don't need to benefit from your hard work. I don't park in spots that will give away my location. I also tend to target areas that are harder to get to. That doesn't necessarily mean far away, but a good sized hill between the parking area and birds will weed out a lot of competition hence the reason I'm on the treadmill almost every day. Also look for areas that don't have trails or roads cut through them. So many guys will follow an access road and just go a few yards off to the side. Learn to read a map and carry a compass and get off the beaten path and you'll encounter far fewer people.

[3bailey3]

A fresh dump at a trail head has turn me around a few times, 3 or four and I will never go back!

[Mossberg90MN]

For me, for the most part... avoiding pieces that have a lot of trucks parked there helps, I'm then left with the unpressured (or lower pressured) areas, normally with a gobbling turkey.

Opening day mid morning  is a good way to scout pressure if your plan doesn't work out.

Sometimes... there's no real way to avoid and you just have to hope that the other guy is courteous (unfortunately not the case most of the time). 


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[zelmo1]

I try to put as much distance between me and the parking spot as possible. A good hill or swamp is my friend. My biggest issue is ATV's. There are a gazillion of riders around here and a ton of camps. They are cutting more trails and getting deeper into the woods every year. Dont they know I am hunting turkeys, not people. Z

[Tom007]

Buy about 10 cheap flashlights and a roll of electric tape. Get to your trailhead early. Tape the flashlights just off the trail and turn them on as you go in. Hunters behind you will think the woods is loaded with hunters. Harvest a fine gobbler, collect your lights on the way out , go home and celebrate...

[guesswho]

I kill the ones 100 yards from the parking area that everyone walks by on their 5 mile hike away from the crowds.

[YoungGobbler]

I kill the ones 100 yards from the parking area that everyone walks by on their 5 mile hike away from the crowds.

[Hook hanger]

Best defense is a good offense! Never go to over pressured ground! Find better spots!

[g8rvet]

1) Do it all the time.
2)Never have but would if I was in an obvious location. Honestly if they are a good enough woodsman to know there was a dude sitting there, they likely know where the birds are located.
3)I all but got called an a-hole for saying we routinely do this in a NF.  (brush out tracks). Too bad, so sad.
4) Also use for duck hunting.
5) I won't lie to someone, unless they ask me for information, but I don't volunteer one way or the other. Would not do the gobble tube either.
6)Would not drag a log onto a road, but am also not too lazy to remove one.
 

[Dougas]

I have had acquaintances say they always see my truck parked at a certain gated road and ask how the hunting was back there. I tell them that I have seen, insert the game I am hunting at the time, occasionally,  but I like the terrain so much that I am hoping to get lucky one day, when the truth is that lucky "day" happens a lot back there. It is situated on hush creek road on notellum ridge just past thatwon mountain.

[quavers59]

 Question to you- Where are you going to be?? Answer-- Where The Turkeys Are...